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April 29, 2003
ITUNES MUSIC STORE: QUICK REVIEW.
Pros:
- It’s amazingly fast and responsive. After double-clicking a song, the excerpt starts playing immediately – as fast as if you had the CD right there. (I’m using a DSL modem. I’m curious to find out how fast the store is with a dial-up connection).
- The interface is very well-designed. It’s easy to find the singers and tracks you’re looking for.
- The excerpts make browsing easy. I’ve already found tracks I like by groups I’d never heard of before.
- The AAC file format appears to be considered superior to the MP3 format – i.e. considered to sound better. It also produces smaller files than MP3 does.
- Being able to purchase on the spot, usually on a track-by-track basis, is great.
Cons:
- Very few current hits are available. For example, there’s nothing yet from Eminem’s last two CDs, or Missy Elliot’s last two CDs. I expect this to change as the service becomes accepted.
Bottom Line:
- The days of paying $18 for a CD with one or two tracks you like, are numbered. This is the future of how we’ll all buy music.
